We have all seen the vast number of articles regarding the interactions between the different generations in the workplace. We all have our personal views regarding the roles of the Baby Boomers, Gen X , Gen Y or the traditionalists. But we are talking about an entirely different generational mix then we are used to hearing about.
For the past 15 years, I have religiously read one business magazine cover to cover each and every month. When you book marked it on your PC or Mac it cam up as the Handbook for the Revolution. The February issues discussed a new generation called Generation Flux.
Based in Chaos Theory it suggests that you as HR professionals need to change your perspectives. The idea of creating precise long term business model or expecting that your human capital assets are going to remain part of your organization is dwindling. So what does this mean for our organizations?
The total organization, including HR, must learn to work in small segments. The article contains references from individuals who are part of this new generation which represent all ages. They look at the business world from the view of what is going to happen in the next several hours not fie or ten years down the road. This means that HR needs to embrace change and realize that our future as an organization is directly attributable to how well we adapt the organization to this state of flux. Consider these options for your organization:
- Employees with a constant pressure to learn new things
- Adaptation to changing environments that can happen in hours not years
- Short-term careers
- No guarantee that talent will stay in your industry
- Human Capital resumes are a collection of roads that have no clear path of direction. Revising the resume opens new paths.
What this means is that nostalgia is a thing of the past. The future means we have to be ready at the drop of a dime to change our focus. We need to shift our focus towards hiring as the moment requires and understand when the need drops, the talent is going to move. It will play havoc on our hiring plans. It will have an adverse effort on succession planning. We can not rely on our HIPE employees being there when the C-Suite retires. We can not rely on the department staffing needs to be placed on a plateau where we know who is going to fill the needs of the future.
The generation flux is going to be the indicator of the strength of our organization short term because that is way we need to look. Command and control and management expecting to have a strong presence in the wave of the future is winding fast.
In our presentations on Six Sigma and HR, we focus on an analogy of the fork in the road as the determining factor n the health of the HR function. With the introduction of the generation flux, this even more true then before. We have a choice of staying the path of " hey this is the way we have always done it, and it works," or taking the path of moving with the flow which will cause us to review where we are, where we are going and how we are going to get there--hourly. It means we need to be able to assist the human capital assets to better prepared for the new world. Forget this attitude that we are not going to train them because they will just leave.They are going to leave anyway. Help them solidify the next skill set that goes in their backpack. These skills may be helpful in the next person you hire.
Stop, take a moment to smell the roses and prepare for the turbulent ride as we enter the world of Generation Flux. I highly recommend that you click on the link and read about what Generation Flux could mean to your organization. Contribute to the discussion. Get involved in laying out the future of your organizations.
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